Addition of a small amount of La and Co enhances the stabilization of supercooled liquid and glass-forming ability (GFA) of an Al85Ni7Er8 metallic glass. The Al85Ni5Co2Er6La2 alloy exhibits large supercooled liquid region of 40 K, high GFA with a critical thickness of 450 mu m, and the viscosities on the order of 10(7)-10(9) Pa s in the supercooled liquid state. The Al-based glassy nano-scale patterns were formed by imprinting, indicating its good thermoplastic formability. The possible mechanism for the improvement of the supercooled liquid stability of the Al-Ni-Er alloy by addition of La and Co elements was discussed in terms of the crystallization behavior. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.